Drive mechanism



c. R. PATON DRIVE MECHANISM July 18, 1944.

Filed Dec. 19, 1941 Patented July 18, 1944. v

UNITED STATES PAT ENT OFFICE. '7 -2,354,1'39- DRIVE SM Clyde R. Paton, Birmingham,-Mich., assignor' to Packard Motor Car Company, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application December 19, 1941, ScrialNo. 423,654

4 Claims. (Cl. 74 18 9i5),

more particularly to transmissions employing hydraulic torque converters.

An object of the invention is to provide a transmission for motor vehicles in which a hydraulic driven shaftand drum member il'fixed to the torque converter of relatively small overall di riving shaft. 'The driven shaft is carried y a mensions can be employed.- bearing 34 in the rear end of the' driving shaft Another object of the invention is :to provide a i and by a bearing 35 in wall 21. hydraulic torque converter type of transmission e i e f m t iv Shaft the driven that can be conveniently carried beneath a motor shaft flows in two paths, o e l -t w-Passin vehiclejbody without material projection into the through the rq en en the other P body space or allowance for road clearance -be-v of o p s d S di ide D w r fl yond that considered essential for transmissions is p d through planetary gearing eelll-llillg that do not include a hydraulic torque converter. ans s stin f a sun ar 0 s l d on t A further-object of the invention is to provide driven Shaft, a ring gear 4| fermed 0 the a transmission in which planetary gearing is I pe er, planet gearsou ed 011 P 43 fixed employed to transfer power from a driving memto carrier .44. The driven member-of the torque to a driven m ber in two paths. converter has a hub 45 splined on the sun gear Other objects of the invention will'appear from and the carrier 1 a Sleeve extensidn the following description 1 taken in connection whieh a driving lillg is p The driving j with the drawing, which forms a part of this ring an be fixed to t e flyw eel y o ts v Specification, in which: I The impeller has va bearing flange 49 suitable Fig 1 is a fragmentary vertical sectional View to rotate on the carrier sleeve and is located forof a transmission having the invention incorpo- Ward of Stator, the driven member of the rated-therein; torque converter being intermediate the impeller Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the driving couple and the stator. The torque converter structure taken on line 22 of Fig. 1. can be formed'with blades cooperatingln a con- The housing for the transmission is indicated ventional n r p n fl ln'the ca in by numeral l0 and a driving shaft II, which can W n e v e t which the treneinission be an engine crankshaft, projects into the housis to be applied is standing still and the engine ing. A driven shaft 12 also projects into the, connected w th the d iving shaft ll isidllns. housing and is arranged to align axially with the carrier 44 will be driven and. will cause planet driving shaft. Between the shafts and .within gears 42 to rotate around gear "which is held the housing is torque converter having an iinstationary with driven shaft l2 due to vehicle peller l3, a stator 14 and a driven member I5, friction. This rotation of planet gears 42 around A casing surrounding the torque converter prose l will driv he imp l r 13 at n increased vides driving means coupling the driving shaft speed from the driving shaft II and such rotation. and the impeller and includes flywheel l6 fixed of the impe e will circulate fluid i the que to the driving shaft by bolts l1, ring member ID converter which tends to rotate the 'stator M in fixed to the flywheel by bolts 60 and sleeve [8 40 a reverse direction to the impeller I; but the fixed to the ring member by bolts 20. stator is held stationary under such conditions i The stator is riveted to hub 2i splined on a reby the one-way brake 24, 25 and 26. when the actor 'sleeve 22'mounted on suitable bearings 23 engine is idling and the vehicle is stationary, on the driven shaft. One-way overrunning rollhe fluid pressure develope i he rque 00ners 24 are arrangedbetween cam surfaces 25 on verter is not sumcient to overcome the friction the end of sleeve 22 and a drum '26 fixed to inof the there will be forward motion temal housing wall 21 to brake the stator when of the vehicle. To overcome such vehicle friction it attempts to rotate in reverse direction. Sleeve and get the vehicle underway it is necessary to II encircles a portion of sleeve 22 and suitable increase the speed o the e e n Order to overbearings 28 are arranged therebetween. An oil 50 come the vehicle friction sufllciently to allow seal 29 is arranged between sleeve l8 and an internal wall 30 of the housing.

In order that the driving shaft can be rotated when the driven shaft becomes the driver, such as when a motor vehicle is being pushed for 53 starting; one-way overrunning clutch rollers 3| are arranged between the adjacent ends of the driving shaft and'the driven shaft. "I'hese rollers engage cam surfaces on hub 32 splined to the rotatlon'of shaft l2 and sun gear 40.

When the vehicle is under way, power from the driving shaft passes through ring 41. to the planetary gearing carrier where it is divided and 1 passes through the planet gears to the sun gear and to the ring gear. The sun gear will be driven by the planet gears and a part of the power will thus pass directly to the driven shaft and will be shunted past the torque converter. At the same time the ring gear and impeller will be driven by the planet gears and will transmit power through the converter to the driven member. The stator or reaction member will be locked from reverse rotation by brake 24 and the fluid power in the converter will pass to the driven member from which it flows to the sun gear and applications which will readily occur to persons skilled in the art. The invention is therefore to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a transmission, a driving shaft, a driven shaft, a torque converter having an impeller, a stator, and a driven member between the impeller and the stator, a sleeve extension on the stator mounted on the. driven shaft, a sun gear fixed on the driven shaft interiorly of the impeller and the driven member, said driven member being splined on the sun gear, a ring gear on an interior portion of the impeller, planet gears meshing with the ring gear and the sun gear, a carrier for the planet gears having a sleeve projecting beyond the impeller and rotatably mounted on the driven shaft, and a driving connection from the driving shaft to the carrier sleeve.

- 2. In a transmission, a driving shaft; a driven shaft; a torque converter having an impeller with a bearing flange at one end, a stator, and a driven member between the impeller and the stator, said stator having a sleeve extension rotatably mounted on the driven shaft; planetary gearing having a ring gear formed on the impeller between the flange bearing and the driven member, a sun gear fixed on the driven shaft interiorly of the ring gear and on which the driven member is splined,

planet gears meshing with the ring gear and the shaft; a torque converter having an impeller with a bearing flange at one end, a stator, and a driven member between the impeller and the stator, said stator having a sleeve extension rotatably mounted on the driven shaft; planetary gearing having a ring gear formed on the impeller between the flange bearing and the driven member, a sun gear fixed on the driven shaft interiorly of the ring gear and on which the driven member is splined, planet gears meshing with the ring gear and the sun gear and a planet gear carrier between the bearing flange and the driven member, said carrier having a sleeve extension rotatably mounted on the driven shaft and on which the bearing flange of the impeller is rotatably mounted; a casing surrounding the torque converter fixed to the driving shaft at one end and having a bearing on the rotor sleeve extension at the other end; and a drive connection from the casing to the carrier sleeve.

4. A transmission comprising a driving shaft, a driven shaft, a hydraulic torque converter having an impeller, a stator, and a driven member between the impeller and the stator, a sun gear between the impeller and the stator, said sun gear being fixed in positive driving relation on the driven shaft, means fixing the driven member in positive driving relation with the sun gear, a planetary gear carrier fixed to rotate with the driving shaft, an internal ring gear on the impeller, planet gears mounted on the carrier and meshing with the sun gear and the ring gear, and a brake operative to prevent rotation of the stator in one direction.

CLYDE R. PATON. 

